(Note the title and content of this blog post are a reflection on a session at this years AAAS meeting and not an official position of the Academics for the Future of Science.) The message of keeping science as a top priority for the U.S. was evident from many conversations at the 2017 American Association […]

As an introduction to this session, Dr. Geraldine Richmond (Presidential Chair in Science and Professor of Chemistry, University of Oregon) first spoke of the AAAS meeting as being an interdisciplinary meeting, and of global nature. To this latter point, Richmond‘s assertion that “science depends on openness, transparency, and the freeflow of ideas and people” is […]

At this year’s AAAS meeting Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, gave one of the meeting’s most inspirational talks; “The Scientist as Sentinel.” This title is in itself an interesting idea. If we think about the definition of sentinel, which is “a soldier or guard whose job is to […]

The National Institutes of Health recently released a proposal to cap researchers’ “Grant Support Index”. In effect, each grant type counts for a certain number of “GSI points”, with the R01 (the flagship independent-investigator award) counting for 7 points. The full scale is described in NIH’s GSI blog post linked above, and the rationale for […]

It is an unprecedented time for science enthusiasm. Last fall science was barely mentioned in the election. We know because we wrote a blog post about it and had a hard time digging up any mention of science by the candidates. Now over a million people marched for for science […]

Early career researchers aspire to engage with society while still pursuing their research careers. They may engage by contributing directly to policy decisions or by becoming community advocates. This type of engagement is critical for making the public understand what science is and what scientists do. At the same time, it gives junior scientists multiple […]

Update: AFS are officially partnered with the March for Science Boston as well as the National March for Science, join us at the march and come find our table on Boston Common on April 22 or check for updates to our Facebook group to meet up with us in D.C. If you’re not in the Boston or D.C. area, find […]

Late last year, US Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act,* a bipartisan bill that would increase funding for medical research, reevaluate the current mental health systems in the US and enhance the regulatory requirements for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. I am compelled to write a piece on a very interesting amendment to the law: […]

On the day of President Trump’s inauguration, we thought it would be good to highlight some of the key issues from the last week that could impact the future of science and research in the US over the course of the next administration. Trump nominees discussing science Over the last week, Donald Trump’s choices for key […]

The scientific enterprise is at a crossroads. More and more young trainees are leaving academia every day. This is a very present phenomenon, which leaves me wondering what will happen to the biomedical research enterprise in the future. Will it become more sustainable because there are fewer researchers to support, or will it fall apart […]